The author first defines the following notions of information structure: focus (vs. background), given (vs. new), and topic (vs. comment). He then goes on to show how these notions are reflected in the prosodic systems of Slavic languages. Focus in all Slavic languages is reflected in prosodic prominence governed by a stress-focus correspondence defined by the author. In general, ‘given’ is realized outside the sentence stress. Focus does not have an obligatory prosodic reflex in Slavic languages.

This chapter gives an overview of critical issues in contemporary research on the phonetics of intonation, arising from a survey of historical and recent trends in the field. We begin with a brief introduction to some of the key concepts to be used in the description of intonation in the chapter, which is based primarily on the Autosegmental Metrical framework. In the subsequent historical overview, we place this tone-based framework in its historical context, comparing it with the British tune-based tradition, before outlining more recent developments arising out of studies of typological variation of intonation, which have influenced our understanding of both the forms and the meanings of intonation. Three critical issues in the study of intonation are then reviewed: defining the phonetic variables of intonation, the relationship of intonation to other linguistic structures, and intonational variation and change. A sampling of recent research subsequently highlights work that relates to these critical issues. Key considerations for the teaching of intonation are then reviewed, before some closing comments on future directions for intonation research.

This chapter reviews the syntactic and prosodic correlates of information structure in Germanic languages. The chapter starts with an introduction to the information structural notions: focus, topic, and givenness related to the way information is stored in human memory and organized in communication. The effect of information structure on prosody in these languages can be felt in several ways: pitch accent addition because of focus, pitch accent deletion because of givenness, topicalization because of topic. In syntax, the effects are also numerous: scrambling, a series of leftward movements: topicalization, passivization, dative construction, object-shift, and a series of rightward movements: extraposition, right-dislocation, heavy NP-shift, afterthought. Pronominalization and ellipsis are the results of givenness. At the end of the chapter, focus-sensitive particles (or “association with focus”) like exclusive only, additive also and scalar even, are shortly mentioned. Germanic languages show a wealth of effects, but they also differ among each other in subtle ways.

This contribution focuses on the basic features and the linguistic functions of intonation primarily in the standard varieties of Germanic languages including German, Dutch, English, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. It begins with an introduction to intonation generally including a discussion of phonetic and phonological analyses of intonations, the meanings of intonation contours, and the range of data sources used in analyses. It then introduces the commonalities across utterance types in the Germanic languages and then presents the specific features of intonation in each of the languages. Some discussion of dialectal variation is also included. Research into perception – including listener interpretation of intonation contours – is also included.